I Think It's Safe to Say I'm Back
by Celeb Helkelimbe
Summary: Lita goes through a bit of a funk and gets depressed.She does some soul searching and comes back in time to kick some butt. R&R please.


I Think It's Safe To Say I'm Back Lita was depressed. Her attacks were no longer affecting the youma that the Sailor Scouts battled, her recipes were failing and to top it all off, a new girl had kicked her ass in a fight. Frustrated, Lita had gone for a walk in the park. Her last trip to the mountains to train had given her back her confidence but it had gone downhill a few months later. Lita had sunk to an all time low.  
Lita was so deep in her thoughts that she wasn't paying much attention to where she was going. In fact, she wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to where she was going. With her head bent down, Lita walked right into Haruka. Haruka spun around angrily to see who had bumped into her.  
"What! You think you own the sidewalk!" Haruka shouted angrily, before noticing it was Lita.  
"Watch where you're going!" Lita shouted back as she stormed past Haruka, ignoring Michiru. Angry, Haruka reached out and grabbed Lita roughly by the arm. Furious, Lita spun around and punched Haruka as hard as she could on the jaw. Haruka fell back and knocked both Michiru and herself to the sidewalk. Her eyes glittering, Lita stormed off, leaving Haruka helping Michiru to her feet while rubbing her jaw.  
"What's eating her?" Haruka muttered, then flinched as a spasm of pain shot straight to her brain from her jaw.  
"Your jaw isn't broken but don't talk for a few days," Michiru said after examining Haruka's jaw.  
"That bitch is going to pay for this," Haruka growled, ignoring the pain in her jaw.  
Michiru sighed and together, the two 'friends' left the park.  
Lita, meanwhile, had broken into a run. She ran until her legs burned and her lungs felt like they were ready to explode. Exhausted, she sat down on the closest bench. Looking in front of her, Lita saw people skating on the outdoor rink. A small smile touched her lips as she saw Serena try to skate but falling on her butt instead. Her smile quickly faded as a young man skated over to her.  
He was about 6'2", broad shoulders, muscular, white hair, and tangerine eyes. He skated with a confidence that bordered annoyance. Lita recognized him immediately. Quickly, she jumped to her feet and walked off, heading to her apartment. She had no sooner sat down in her favorite chair when her communicator went off. There was a youma attacking people at a flower shop.  
"Figures," Lita muttered as she ran out of the apartment complex towards the flower shop. Ducking into a nearby alley, she transformed.  
"Jupiter Crystal Power! Make-up!" Lita cried.  
Running out of the alley, Jupiter raced into the flower shop. The outer scouts, including Saturn, were all there with Sailors' Moon, Chibi Moon, and Mercury. When Uranus saw Jupiter enter the flower shop she threw a death glance in Jupiter's direction.  
Jupiter shrugged off the glare from Uranus and focused on the youma.  
"Jupiter Oak Evolution"  
The youma laughed as the attack hit and shrugged it off. "So that's all you've got"  
Before Jupiter could respond, the other scouts stepped in. "World Shaking"  
"Deep Submerge"  
"Dead Scream"  
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody"  
The combined attacks paralyzed the youma. Then Sailor Moon stepped in and defeated the youma. When the youma was destroyed, Uranus turned to Jupiter and punched her. Jupiter stumbled back a step, but didn't fall. This only made Uranus angrier. Quickly, the outers put themselves between the two scouts. Jupiter spun on her heel and left.  
"What was that about?" Sailor Moon asked in confusion.  
"Lita hit Haruka earlier after she bumped into her," Neptune explained. "I guess this was payback"  
"Is that true?" Mercury asked.  
Uranus nodded painfully, and touched her jaw.

Three days later, Lita was walking through the park by the rink when the man with the tangerine eyes stopped her.  
"Hello, Lita." He grinned.  
Startled, Lita glared at him.  
"I see you're glad to see me," he remarked.  
"What do you want, Luis?" Lita demanded.  
"Nice to see you, too, Lita," Luis replied. "I was wondering if you'd care to skate with me this afternoon"  
"I don't skate anymore," she lied. "Leave me alone"  
When Lita tried to go past him, Luis reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Lita glared at him and jerked her arm out of his grasp.  
"I said leave me alone," Lita growled.  
"And I thought that you didn't repeat yourself for anybody," Luis taunted.  
"What's the matter, Lita?" Haruka asked as she, Michiru, and Hotaru walked over. "Aren't you going to nail him with that wicked left hook"  
"Go to hell, Haruka," Lita snapped as she stormed off.  
"Damn," Luis cursed. "I need her help"  
"Need her help for what?" Michiru inquired.  
"In a competition that's coming up," Luis said before he walked off in the same direction as Lita.  
"Competition?" Michiru murmured, confused.  
"Must be a martial arts thing." Haruka shrugged.  
"He was a figure skater," Hotaru stated.  
'How would you know that?" Haruka asked.  
"He had a pair of figure skates over his shoulder"

"Lita, wait up!" Luis shouted.  
"I don't want to talk to you, Luis"  
"Then listen," he pleaded.  
Lita stopped only long enough for him to catch up, then she resumed walking.  
"I'm entered in this figure skating competition in two weeks and my partner quit last week," he explained. "I need someone to skate with me, to be my partner. Naturally, you were my first choice because we've skated together before"  
When Lita said nothing, he continued, "Please Lita, I'm desperate. Just for this competition, for old time's sake," he pleaded. "One last time, I beg you. I don't want to skate with anyone else. Say something"  
"No," Lita said, then she took off running.  
"Dammit Lita, I don't want to have to hold auditions for a partner," Luis cursed.  
Shoulders hunched, hands in pockets, and head held low, Luis walked to the outdoor rink. He put on his skates and went on the ice in hopes of finding someone to skate with in the competition. In the meantime, Lita had gone to the Temple for a scout meeting. Setsuna, Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka, Amy, and Mina were already there when Lita arrived. Wordlessly, Lita sat down on the futon in between Rei and Amy. No one said a word to her.  
Ten minutes later, Serena, Darien, and Rini arrived and the meeting began. They covered the usual business about the newest enemy before the subject turned to the conflict between Lita and Haruka.  
"What happened between you two?" Serena asked.  
"Yeah, you two might not have been friends but you were never at each others' throats," Hotaru added.  
"Nothing," both girls lied.  
"I don't want to talk about it," Lita said.  
"Then would you care to explain to us, Lita," Serena asked, "Why your attacks haven't worked like they used to on the youma"  
"No," Lita growled. "I don't know"  
"Even my attacks are doing damage to them," Amy said. "Well good for you, Amy," Lita replied sarcastically. "I guess you can't be the weakest scout all the time"  
Everybody then attacked Lita with their own comments at the same time, defending Amy. Lita got to her feet and was about to leave when something Serena said stopped her.  
"If you're going to be like that, Lita Kino, and hurt your friends feelings because of your failures then maybe you shouldn't be a Sailor Scout"  
Lita paused for a second in the doorway before she left, not letting them see her tears.  
"You don't really mean that, do you, Serena?" Amy asked.  
"If she's going to be like that shouldn't be here." Serena nodded.  
"Serena, we need her," Mina said.  
"Her attacks not working is really hitting her hard," Darien added in Lita's defense. "She's not used to it going on this long"  
"I know, but still it's no excuse," Serena replied.  
"She hasn't been herself in months," Haruka murmured.  
"She'll bounce back," Rei declared. "She always has"  
The group nodded, then dispersed.

The day before the big competition Lita was even more depressed than she had ever been. Two days ago, she and her friends had had a huge argument during a battle and they barely escaped alive. And it was all because of something she had said out of frustration. Absently, Lita watched Serena and her friends as they entered the arcade. Angry at herself, she made a subconscious decision. Lita marched to her apartment, then to the rink.  
Lita threw on her skates and stepped onto the ice. She began to skate, slowly getting back her confidence. After about fifteen minutes, she began to try some jumps and spins. The sit spin, camel spin, lay back and a few others were easy. The jumps were another matter. After a few failed attempts at some toe loops and sow cows, Lita finally began to land jump after jump. Unknown to her, she was being watched. As Lita did a triple axle/triple toe loop combination, a couple skaters took to the ice. Lita landed her jump and a smile spread across her face. She skated faster and began doing more complicated jumps and some very difficult footwork sequences before she noticed the other skaters.  
Abruptly, she stopped and slowly skated away from them. Lita threw back on her shoes, swung her skates over her shoulder and left.

Later that evening, there was a youma attacking people at a nearby bookstore. Lita didn't even bother to answer her communicator. She left the battle up to the others.

The next evening all of the scouts and their friends were at the figure skating competition. They hadn't seen Lita in days and she wasn't with them now. Haruka had long since forgiven and forgotten what had happened between her and Lita. For now, everyone was content to watch the great skating.  
Lita was at the competition, but she was sitting all by herself, waiting for someone. A minute later, she left. She headed straight through the security and into a locker room. She had a surprise for everyone.  
After four pairs teams had finished their programs, it was time for Luis to take to the ice. He was nervous because his partner hadn't been seen all day. As far as anyone knew, she wasn't even in the arena. At his coach's urging, he took to the ice. The music started, and he began to skate. A cloaked figure took to the ice and began skating with him. They skated together for a few seconds before doing a jump. The music was slow and deliberate. Suddenly, it stopped and the lights began to pulsate, on and off quickly. The cloaked figure dropped the cloak and the lights stopped pulsating. She was beautiful. Her thick auburn hair was in a long, flowing mass greatly caressing soft but strong shoulders. A string of diamonds rested on her forehead and was woven into her hair. Rose earring graced her ears and a diamond choker with a rose accented her beautiful neck. Her white sequined tube top hugged her chest just like her short red skirt did her hips and thighs. Her emerald eyes twinkled in the spot light.  
"Think you can keep up?" she teased.  
Luis grinned and swung her into his arms. "Let's dance"  
A lively tune began to play and the two skaters began to move quickly.  
Serena gasped when she recognized the female skater. "Oh my god! It's Lita"  
The group watched the pair on the ice, mesmerized.  
Luis and Lita did several difficult lifts and side-by-side jumps with ease. The music's tempo picked up as they did some spins and more jumps. It went even faster as they did a very complicated footwork sequence. Towards the end of the program the music got even livelier and the crowd got the biggest surprise of the night. Lita lifted Luis high above her head with such ease even the judges were shocked. After Luis was back on the ice, he and Lita did a side-by-side back flip and some spins. The last one being very dangerous. Lita's legs were locked behind Luis' necks at the ankles, his hands weren't holding her and they were spinning around very quickly with Lita's head high above the ice one second, one inch off the ice the next. Lita released her ankles and spilled onto the ice to finish the program. She got to her feet after a second and the pair bowed and left the ice and went to their locker room.  
"It's a good thing that this was only a two skate deal." Luis grinned. "Cause I'm bushed"  
"I couldn't go out on the ice again anyway," Lita sighed. "I nearly got myself killed out here tonight"  
They both laughed and walked out of the locker room, back to the rink side to watch the other skaters.  
A few hours later and after one last skate for the crowd, the winners of the pairs portion competition were announced. Lita and Luis had won!

A week later, the Scout's were in the middle of a battle and Lita was nowhere to be seen. The youma was too strong for any of the attacks to do any damage. Just as it looked like the youma was going to win, the sounds of thunder in the distance made everyone look around hopefully.  
"Need a hand?" Sailor Jupiter asked as she stepped into view.  
"Please." Venus smiled in her pain. Casually, Jupiter walked over to the youma. It ignored her and focused on Sailor Uranus. Big mistake. Jupiter picked up the youma and threw it about twenty feet away from the wounded Scouts. Furious, the youma lunged at Jupiter.  
Jupiter smiled wickedly, before shouting, "Flower Hurricane"  
The flowers that flew at the youma slightly weakened it.  
"With your permission, Sailor Moon, I'd like to deal with this one myself," Jupiter said and Sailor Moon nodded, gratefully.  
Jupiter grinned and focused on the youma. "Let's see if you can handle this. Jupiter Oak Thundercloud Destroy"  
A huge cloud made of crackling thunder, lightning, and leaves swirled around the youma, then tightened violently. The youma couldn't move and began to scream in pain. Then the cloud thickened and exploded, leaving a tiny pile of dust with a tiny sea shell remaining.  
Jupiter turned to the others with a poker face. "Dusted"  
Then she broke out in a smile. "How'd I do"  
"Couldn't have done it better myself," Sailor Moon declared.  
"I think it's safe to say I'm back," Jupiter said with a giggle. 


End file.
